Election fever is gripping Russia with December's looming parliamentary vote swiftly followed by the presidential run-off in March 2012. The president says it is the people’s votes which will decide who ends up with power in the country.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who does not plan to compete for a second term, outlined his views on what the election means for Russia as he spoke to the country's major media outlets.

“It’s up to the citizens to elect, and these are not just words, it’s the truth. Any politician can lose an election, along with his or her political party. In our country’s history, as well as other countries, that’s what’s happened more than once. Anything may happen. There’s no predetermination,” he says.

“Let the citizens decide who has more authority. It’s our people who decide, our citizens are able to highlight the key points either by voting for a candidate or party or by turning them down. That is what democracy is about,” Medvedev indicated.

According to Dmitry Babich, a political analyst at the RIA Novosti news agency, Dmitry Medvedev perceives himself as a part of the “state machine.”

“Before coming to power, Medvedev gave an interview to foreign journalists here in Moscow,” Babich said. “I was also present. I remember that Medvedev said, ‘I am a part of the state machine,’ and I remember no one quoted that phrase, probably because all those foreign journalists hoped that he would be something very special, something quite outside the system that we had here.”

“I think Medvedev was serious,” he added. “I think he was sincere. He is a part of the machine. He acknowledged it. He wants the machine to function perfectly. This is one of the reasons he was so angry with Kudrin, and I think he feels the responsibility.”